Tennis legend Taylor on the pressures of Wimbledon, Borg and Bond!

Roger Taylor with Marcus Buckland

--

Former British number 1 tennis player, Roger Taylor, gave a fascinating talk and question and answer session about his remarkable playing career for members at Maidenhead Lawn Tennis Club on Friday.

The event formed part of the promotion for his new autobiography, Roger Taylor: The Man Who Saved Wimbledon - and a lively Q&A session was hosted afterwards by sports broadcaster Marcus Buckland, who also collaborated on the book.

Taylor explained how his career began in humble fashion, learning the game from scratch in Sheffield despite having virtually no coaching.

From those beginnings, Taylor managed to claw his way to the top of the sport - competing against and beating some of the biggest names of his era.

He recalled famous victories in the 1970s over icons such as Rod Laver and Björn Borg, matches that helped define his reputation as one of Britain’s finest players.

He also spoke about the unique pressures of competing at Wimbledon, particularly during the 1973 players’ boycott, when he came agonisingly close to reaching the men’s singles final, falling only in the semi-final to eventual champion Jan Kodes.

Taylor went on to enjoy further success off the court, later serving as a highly respected captain of both the Great Britain Davis Cup team and the British Ladies’ Wightman Cup team.

Adding a touch of Hollywood glamour to the evening, he delighted the audience with the revelation that, in the late 1960s, he was even considered as a potential successor to Sean Connery in the role of James Bond.